14 October 2008

The brain and the banjo

Bluegrass legend Eddie Adcock had brain surgery last month to correct an essential tremor -- an uncontrollable shaking that left him unable to play the banjo. During the surgery, he stayed awake to give feedback while surgeons prodded his brain, looking for the exact spot to stimulate to control the tremor. His method of feedback during surgery? He played the banjo. Astonishing footage from the BBC is here, or watch a news report from Good Morning America below:

Looking for more amazing tales from the brain? Watch Vilayanur Ramachadran's TEDTalk on the journey to the center of your mind; or Christopher deCharms' real-time fMRI of the brain in motion; or Jill Bolte Taylor's powerful stroke of insight.

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13 June 2008

Synesthesia on demand

Many of us have a touch of synesthesia -- seeing numbers or hearing musical tones as colors, thanks to a lucky bit of crossed wiring in the brain. Many commenters on Vilayanur Ramachandran's TEDTalk talk engagingly about their experience with it. Want to know what it feels like? Try this: a synesthesia generator >>.

It's a feature of the hypertext exploration site Hypertextopia. And yes, you can change the colors -- so if you see A as white and C as green, but your brother insists that A is red (because, as Ramachandran points out, synesthesia runs in families, but no one has it in exactly the same way), just click the row of letters below the text window.

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28 May 2008

The World Science Festival starts tomorrow

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 29, begins the World Science Festival: a four-day celebration of scientific exploration and discovery in New York City created by TEDster Brian Greene. Members of the TED team will be liveblogging the event right here on the TED Blog, keeping you updated on the latest from many TEDTalks favorites who will be presenting there. A few events we plan to cover:

Illuminating Genius: Unlocking Creativity: Is creativity innate or learned? Does the innovative brain have distinct structural or chemical features? Can we enhance our creativity? Vilayanur Ramachandran will contribute to this session, along with Nancy Andreasen and David Eagleman.

Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives: Brian Cox will moderate a panel of physicists including Michio Kaku and Max Tegmark as they discuss the possibility of parallel worlds. The panel is to follow a screening of Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives, a film about Hugh Everett, father of the "many-worlds interpretation" of quantum physics and the film's director, Mark Everett.

Science of Morality: Patricia Churchland, Antonio Damasio and Marc Houser join philosopher Dan Dennett in a discussion of the science of right and wrong: Why do we cooperate? Is altruism innate? How does morality arise from interactions among biological and social systems?

Looking for the Laws of Life: The forms that life could take seem endless -- at least in theory. Some scientists are on the verge of creating it in a lab. But are there universal laws of life, much like the fundamental laws of physics? This event features a vibrant discussion with leading astrobiologists Paul Davies, Steven Benner and Maggie Turnbull.

Faith & Science: Many scientists have found a way to accommodate both scientific inquiry and religious teaching in their belief systems. Other scientists are bringing science to bear on religion and spiritual belief. Actress Julia Sweeney contributes to this intimate look at what scientists have to say about their spirituality.

For more information about event schedules and to purchase tickets, visit the World Science Festival's website.

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01 May 2008

Vote for your favorite public intellectuals

Not to be outdone by the Time 100, the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect have together released a list of the Top 100 public intellectuals -- with voting. Many TEDTalks favorites appear on the list, and you can help choose the eventual top 20 by voting for your very own top 5. From Foreign Policy's site:

Although the men and women on this list are some of the world’s most sophisticated thinkers, the criteria to make the list could not be more simple. Candidates must be living and still active in public life. They must have shown distinction in their particular field as well as an ability to influence wider debate, often far beyond the borders of their own country.

TEDTalks speakers on this top 100 list include George Ayittey, Steven Pinker, Neil Gershenfeld, Malcolm Gladwell, Craig Venter, Al Gore, Richard Dawkins, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Larry Lessig, Steven Levitt, E.O. Wilson, Dan Dennett and Bjorn Lomborg -- and look for upcoming TEDTalks from others on this list, including Paul Collier, who spoke at TED2008 about "the bottom billion."

See the full list of 100 >>

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21 March 2008

Phantom limb pain at Walter Reed: Mirror therapy works

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine offers new details on how mirror therapy addresses phantom limb pain -- a topic covered by Vilayanur Ramachandran in his 2007 TEDTalk.

Inspired by Dr. Ramachandran's work, a team of researchers from military hospitals tested a group of 22 patients with amputated lower limbs, and found that:

After 4 weeks of treatment, 100% of patients in the mirror group reported a decrease in pain (median change on the visual-analogue scale, –24 mm; range, –54 to –13), but two patients had brief reactions (<2 minutes) of grief on viewing the reflected intact lower limb.

A story on CNN.com this week tells the story of one of the authors of the study, Navy researcher Dr. Jack Tsao, in accessible, fascinating detail. Read the CNN story >>

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23 October 2007

The center of our minds: Vilayanur Ramachandran on TED.com

Brain researcher Vilayanur Ramachandran talks about how brain damage can reveal the connection between the internal structures of the brain and the corresponding functions of the mind. He discusses three specific syndromes: phantom limb pain, synesthesia (when people hear color or smell sounds), and the Capgras delusion, when brain-damaged people believe their closest friends and family have been replaced with imposters. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 23:46.)

Watch Vilayanur Ramachandran's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.

Read more about Vilayanur Ramachandran on TED.com.

New: Download this talk in high resolution >>

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